Cruel Summer | Ricky Bowen

BONUS: RIRI THE PERFECT DAUGHTER

Riri Morris would like to admit that her birth name was something she hated the most and that being bestowed with the nickname Riri was the greatest thing to ever happen to her. When she came home the next day after the co-ed sleepover at the Caswell's shed, she was bombarded with questions from her parents about what it was like walking in a mansion like theirs.

"We didn't sleep in Raya's room, Ma," she continously told the woman. "We slept in the shed after we tried to find our sound."

"Sound? Why would you try to find your sound?" The woman asked, aghasted. "Rita, what are you not telling us?"

"I'm... Ma, Pa, I'm in a band with Raya."

Riri didn't hear the end of it.

Didn't even know her parents would be against her being in a band with a girl who came from so much money (those were her parents' words about Raya, not hers), her troubled friend (she had to try and contain herself for this), her weirdly quiet friend, a gay kid, the rich girl's odd latina friend, and the rich girl's blonde friend.

It was what she said about Sammy, Gwen, and Tayloelr that riled Riri up.

No one gets to call them that except Raya from what she heard EJ.

"Don't talk about Gwen, Sammy, and Taylor like that!" Riri yelled, crossing her arms.

"What are they going to do? Attack us with lawsuits? Rita, leave that band immediately."

"It's Riri, Ma. Not Rita."

Riri could guess that that was the final straw for her mother because she was pulled out of Homeroom and given a new schedule come Monday and was forced to have Lily as her some kind of bodyguard, since she always pulled her to another direction if she even caught sight of Julius, Robin, Gwen, Sammy, or Raya. All of her classes were now advanced, which made her almost seem so little now since she has always been the smartest in class.

To say she was miserable was an understatement.

She could have found a way to go to Raya's house but her older brother was forced to drive her to and from school, always on time. And Robert Morris was a pushover for everyone because of their mother.

One night, Robert finally cracked and took her to the Caswells with the guise of wanting to go on a drive with Riri and, just to their luck, they were all trying to write a melody to a song that Riri had given them before she went home weeks ago.

"Riri!" Julius cheered as he shot up from his spot on the floor. "Where have you been? You weren't in class."

"At all," Gwen added.

Robert let out a yell. "I couldn't take it anymore at home. Look, Kid, I'm sorry it took me two weeks to get you here."

Taylor frowned. "What? What happened?"

"It's our Ma," the older brother started, sitting down on a stool. "When Riri over here told her she joined Rich Girl Caswell in a band, she flipped and changed her schedule, forced Lily to take Riri to different hallways to dodge you, and made me drive her to school and home on the exact time."

Robin crossed his arms, glaring at the taller boy. "And what took you so long to crack?"

"I heard her crying last night, she's never this miserable," he explained, looking at his little sister. "You need to step out of line now, alright?"

"What? I can't do that!" Riri exclaimed, shocked. "I have to keep track of my grades if I want to get into the most prestigious colleges like MIT, Brown, or University of Toronto."

The band shared incredelous looks as Robin stepped up. "I don't think that's what your brother meant, Riri."

"Oh," she said, embarrassed.

Robert shaked his head in amusement, telling her, "What I mean is scare the shit out of Ma to let you be with your friends again. No more than five AP classes. I know you hate not being the smartest in the room."

Riri frowned. "Are there steps in how to rebel against Ma without it affecting my permanent record?"

"How about you say no to her or try to cut class?"

"I said not affecting my permanent record."

"Colleges don't look at them. They take your transcript and look at that."

"You don't need to stress about it. You are literally the smartest person we've met," Sammy tried to tell her.

This was when Riri snapped into two for the first time in her life.

"But it's not enough."

Raya dropped the songbook with the band name on the floor. "What?"

"I have straight A's, I'm in two AP Classes— three at the start of the year, I'm the leader of Academic Decathlon, I'm a member of the Student Council, I have had lead roles since I started going to theater camp, I'm the head cheerleader," Riri listed, glaring down at her feet as her shoulders rose and fell from her heaving breaths. "I'm every girl in our grade's dream, for fuck's sake!"

Julius flinched at her tone, hiding behind Robin as Riri broke down, sitting down on a chair. "I've done everything! I did everything and it wasn't enough for any of them."

Robert wrapped his arms around Riri as she started sobbing, murmuring a mantra of not being enough, and he was joined by the group, all of them softly comforting his little sister, and she calmed down, her breaths slowing down. It was then he knew why these people meant a lot to her now despite only knowing Taylor for eight hours and knowing Gwen for twelve hours.

"I'll do it."

So it began.

Riri had to find a way to get herself a detention and, it was surprisingly easy to do so. Since breaking down at the studio, Riri became more anxious as days went by and had started clicking her pen obnoxiously when deep in thought to what she can do, then she was snapped out of her thoughts when the teacher exclaimed, "Riri Morris! Detention after school!"

The news spread through the middle school a little too quickly. Then she took the blame when Lily accidentally started a food fight and it was convenient for her that they both almost looked alike. For some reason, that was the final straw and her parents were called in.

"This isn't like you, Riri," her father quietly said as he lead her and her mother to the car.

She had been suspended.

Great...

"What has gotten into you?"

"You took me away from my friends, that's what!" Riri yelled at the woman, breathing heavily. "I have a gift. Taylor said that, Raya said that— the band said it! They taught me so much from the one night we spent together two weeks ago— one of them was to stand for what I love and I love the band."

That was the first time Riri took a stand for what she loved.

And she was positive that it wouldn't be the last time that she would do just that.